The Art of Solar Printing

It’s here in concept and I simply love it! The Tanning Printer is a solar powered printer that doesn’t use cartridges. Instead it uses the process of sun-tanning the paper! You got that right sir…sun tan! It seems outlandish right now, but trust me the idea is worth exploring… the design is here, it looks neat and sleek; now let the engineers figure it out! Designers: Hosung Jung, Junsang Kim, Seungin Lee & Yonggu Do

With all due respect, these faux-science/forced environmentalism concepts are now a dime a dozen. Truth is, we’ve had thermal printers for ages, and this concept is nothing more than $20 ideas. Seriously, how effective is a white solar panel going to be? They’re dark to absorb light. A white panel will just reflect most of it. Maybe it will solve “pullulation”, but in the real world, this is pure fiction.

I have a hard time understanding the following: a. Where does it sit? Near the window so it would get sunlight?

b. So it only works in sunny areas, in the summer, between 7am to 7pm?

c. How do I connect it to my computer? wifi/bluetooth/usb? If it’s with wifi, does it have enough energy to communicate? If it’s through usb, can’t it simply get its power from the pc? (and if it’s so low on energy that it can operate on sunlight, than it will require just a tiny tiny amount of power that I can otherwise save by lowering the screens brightness?)

d. If it’s portable, is that the best shape and style to carry in my bag and use outside?

e. As other people asked – have you researched the process of manufacturing thermal paper? Is it still environmentally friendly after you did?